Challenge Accepted
by HeartlessAlchemyst
Summary: Sora and friends head to Fiore to take part in a tournament...since Olympus no longer has one. And hope to find strong opponents that can push them to their limits and become even stronger as well as make some new friends and have some fun along the way.
1. Let the Games Begin

**Year X794  
**  
"Welcome to the Grand Magic Games!" A loud and boisterous voice echoed throughout the massive stadium, followed by a thunderous applause and excited cheers. "I'm joined with by my good friend, Yajima. This year looks like it's going to be quite interesting, wouldn't you say?" An older, more dignified voice responded. "Yes. Not only do we have the long awaited return of Fairy Tail and Sabretooth; two champions of previous games, but we also have some new faces here as well."

The excited commentator takes over again. "You can say that again! I've never heard of their guild before yesterday, but Team Red Crown absolutely crushed it in the qualifiers. I can't wait to see what they're capable of in the games proper." Fairy Tail and the other well established guilds waited with bated breath as the newcomers entered onto the field. "...And speaking of Red Crown; here they are."

"Right in the middle we have Sora." {Name: Sora | Age: 17 | Magic: "Keyblade"? | Likes: Making friends | Dislikes: Unfriendly people} "One of the younger participants in this tournament. He comes from a small island outside of Fiore. Let's hope the competition won't be too much for him."

"Next to him we have Riku." {Name: Riku | Age: 18 | Magic: "Keyblade"? | Likes: Teasing | Dislikes: Darkness} "A close friend of Sora. The two of them grew up together and despite butting heads every now and then; they work well as a team." Yajima chuckles as he comments. "Sounds a lot like Natsu and Gray."

"Taking up the front we have Lea." {Name: Lea | Age: 25 | Magic: "Keyblade"? | Likes: Ice Cream | Dislikes: Being called Axel} "Apparently he used to be called Axel at one point but insists that we...commit it to memory." Upon hearing the commentators, Lea becomes aggravated and starts waving his arms around and yelling at them to get their attention. But they can't hear him, so he slumps in defeat as Riku pats his shoulder.

"Right behind Lea we have Terra." {Name: Terra | Age: 20 | Magic: "Keyblade"? | Likes: Push-ups | Dislikes: Old men} Yajima scoffs after reading his bio. "Hmph. He looks to be a disrespectful punk." He relents the mic back to his co-commentator.

"Uh...well. Finally, heading up the rear we have Aqua." {Name: Aqua | Age: 18 | Magic: "Keyblade"? | Likes: Arts and Crafts | Dislikes: ...Fruitball} "A polite and kind young woman who trained alongside Terra. She carries herself with a humble strength and seems to be regarded by the others as the team leader."

"And together, they make up Team Red Crown!" The other guilds look at them with varying degrees of curiosity. The pink haired boy asked his team how they felt. "They look strong. What do you guys think?" The red haired girl put a hand on his shoulder to hold him still. "Definitely. But save it for when you actually have to fight them, Natsu. We don't need a repeat of the incident with Sabretooth."

The boy with short black hair leaned over the banister to get a better look at Red Crown. "Hmm. That Aqua chick could be trouble. I doubt she's the team captain for nothing." Jealous of his attention being put on another blue haired girl, the woman behind him covered his eyes and yanked him away from the banister. "Don't look at her like that, Gray!" Gray tried to pull the woman's hands off of him as she held him close. "Juvia! Let go!"

A larger man with blonde spiky hair spoke up. "Will you two lovebirds get a room already? You're noisy." Gray finally gets Juvia to release him as he gets super defensive. "Shut up, Laxus! It's Mirajane's job to be matchmaker." Natsu offered his two cents. "She's not even that good at it." Laxus shrugged off their protests. "Anyways, these Red Crown guys might be tough. But that's not what concerns me." His teammates look at him with intrigue. "...Where's their guild master?"

"Isn't it weird how an up and coming guild makes it into the Games, but not even their master would show up?" Erza ponders his question. "I agree. It's suspicious. Plus, I've never heard of this 'Keyblade' magic that they all wield." Natsu glares at Lea. "I don't like that guy. Can't put my finger on why. Just. Don't. Like him. What do you think, Juvia?"

She pauses for moment as she considers Sora. "Juvia can't explain this feeling she has either. But it's not like yours, Natsu. For some reason, Juvia feels she can trust him." As she points at Sora, she gets an eyebrow raise from Gray followed by a smirk. She quickly tries to deflect suspicion as she gets flustered from Gray's implication. "B-but Juvia would never consider him a replacement for her affections towards her beloved Gray! Never!" Gray only sighs in disappointment as he grumbles under his breath. "Damn. Thought he could give me an out."

A strange little pumpkin man reveals himself in the arena and addressed the audience. "The seeding in the Grand Magic Games are going to be a little different this time around. The matchups will be deciding by popular vote. You; the audience will get to decide who fights who. _Pumpkin._" Fairy Tail and the other guilds look shocked by this new rule change. "This voting rule will also apply to the doubles matches, so keep that in mind. _Pumpkin._"

Sora whispers in Riku's ear. "Is this good for us or bad for us?" Riku pulled away, being weirded out to why Sora was whispering in a giant arena with no one else around. "Depends on how you look at it. We're unknown to the scene; which mean people don't know who we are or what we're capable of. So they will just be guessing on what a close match will be." Sora pumped himself up. "With any luck; they'll ALL be close matches. That's what we're here for. To find strong opponents to train with….and maybe have some fun along the way."

Aqua smiled at Sora's eagerness. "That's true. We may be here to train. But this is still a game." Sora slouched over and put on his best Boston accent. "Rule #6: It's all just a game. So, let loose and have fun with it!" Terra and Aqua recognized the satyr Sora was impersonating as Terra laughed, but Aqua shuttered as she was reminded of her experience with him.

Even at the distance they were at; Erza could tell what was bothering Aqua and felt a similar unease crawl up her spine. "Why am I suddenly reminded of Ichiya?" The commentators took over again. "And with that… The first day of the Grand Magic Games begins!"

***I made this story pretty much as a challenge. The Pumpkin wasn't kidding around though. I want to hear who you guys think should be matched up with who. Both for 1v1s and 2v2s. For the purposes of this story; it will only be between Fairy Tail(Natsu, Erza, Laxus, Gray, and Juvia) and Red Crown(Sora, Riku, Aqua, Terra, and Lea) Other fights will happen, but off screen. These two teams are the focus.***


	2. Off the Deep End

"The Cross Country race has started off with a bang!"

The commentators are on the edge of their seats as the crowd cheers for the individual runners in the race; who jump from cart to cart down the street.

"Everyone is eager to show their stuff today!"

The older man said as you could feel the jealousy in his tone as he lamented his long since past youth. But a third commentator brought focus away from Yajima's reminiscing. One who was just as short, but he was no man. He was a mouse.

"Thanks again for having me up here, pals."

The main man then addressed the mouse.

"Thank you for joining us, Master Michael."

The mouse waved his hand to dismiss the formality.

"Please. Michael was my father. Just Mickey is fine. Well, actually Walt was my father, but…. Ah…nevermind."

The other two chuckled.

"We were surprised when you weren't here for the introductions. So, when we heard you made a 'fashionably late entrance' we just had to invite you up here as a guest commentator."

Mickey shrugged in embarrassment for being late.

"Well, I'm not just a guild master. I also have many other responsibilities. I was held up."

Yajima took the hint.

"You sound like a busy man...er...mouse. I suppose you and your guild would have to be hard workers to qualify for the Grand Magic Games in such a short amount of time. Speaking of your guild; would it be safe to assume you're rooting for your guild member Lea to take the win in this race?"

"Oh gosh. Is it that obvious?"

Mickey rubbed the back of his head.

"But it looks like Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster is the favorite today. Lea seems to be having trouble with Gray's Ice Make magic."

Yajima shook his head in disappointment.

"...And it looks like Gray has experience dealing with 'hotheads' like Lea. He's got one heck of a slippery mountain to climb if he wants to catch up."

The cheers of the crowd echo in the distance as Juvia makes her way downstairs to await her beloved at ground level when he inevitably arrives in first place. In her excited rush, she has Wendy moment and trips over her own feet. But before she hits the ground, she is caught by Sora who jumps in front of her as she falls into his arms instead of on the pavement.

"I thought the race was going on outside, not in here. Where's the fire?"

Sora teased jokingly as Juvia realized the uncomfortable proximity between her and the boy. She quickly got to her feet again and brushed herself off to hide the red on her face.

"Juvia was just...going to greet her beloved when he wins! ...Thank you for catching Juvia."

She wanted to leave as soon as she got to her feet, but couldn't bring herself to be rude to a boy who smiled at her that way. She was sure there was no ill intent behind his smile, but that was exactly why it made her uncomfortable. Very few people ever smile at her that way; especially people she doesn't know.

"...Why are YOU here?"

She didn't mean for her question to come off as abrasive as it did. But she couldn't take it back now. His reaction at least made her feel a little better about it.

"Wait...do you mean; why am I downstairs instead of watching the race? Why am I in the tournament? Or...why am I here? Cause if it's the last one...smarter people than me have pondered that question for years. Why are any of us here?"

She let out the lightest giggle.

"Juvia meant why you are downstairs."

"Well, I was excited and wanted to walk around to relax. Apparently, I'm up first for the one on one fights."

"Really? Against who?"

"Don't know yet. The staff just told me to get ready for it. If it's anyone from your guild, I might be in trouble. You guys look tough. Especially the red head. ...She makes me a little nervous."

"That's Erza for you."

The cheering outside intensifies greatly; giving the two of them the impression the the race had ended. They both dashed for the nearest door to the battlefield as the runners crossed the finish line from the other end. All of the contenders were already here, so it must have been a closer race than Juvia thought. But the announcer pumpkin answered her question.

"And the winner is...Lea! In a positively blistering comeback, _Pumpkin_!"

Juvia couldn't believe it. She ran to find Gray catching his breath off to the side as everyone else crowded around Lea who was basking in the attention and giving Sora a high five.

"...Gray?"

He kept his head down.

"Not now."

Sora saw Juvia trying to reassure her friend and got it into his head that he could help.

"Hey. Ya know… Second place isn't so bad."

Sora offered him a hand up, but Gray slapped it away.

"Shut up! Don't get all condescending just because you got one win!"

Sora pulled back.

"I...wasn't trying-"

"Oh. So you think you can beat Fairy Tail without even TRYING, huh?"

Juvia could see Sora was getting more and more uncomfortable as Gray blew up at him and timidly tried to cool him off.

"That's...not what he said, Gray."

She moved to put her hand on his shoulder, but he brushed her aside and stormed off.

"...Whatever. Don't get cocky, Red Crown. That's the only win you're gonna get off of us."

As he stomped out of the stadium, he passed by Terra; who purposely bumped into his shoulder. Gray turned toward his agitator, ready to tell him off. But one look into his eyes and he saw...he was just as mad at him. In fact, it looked like he wanted him to start something so Terra would have an excuse to fight him.

But Gray let it go and continued on his way as Tera turned and shook his head as he left Gray a parting comment.

"Nothing good comes from blowing up at your friends. Trust me."

Terra moved on outside to congratulate Lea and passed Sora and Juvia. Sora was still visibly shaken up by the altercation as he wasn't used to people getting mad at him for pretty much reason. But he was more concerned with how Juvia took the whole thing.

"Does...he always treat you like that?"

Juvia shook her head.

"No. But...it's not all together uncommon. Juvia is the one who sees it the most though."

"And you're alright with that?"

"...Gray is a complicated person. He had a rough life."  
He grabs her shoulders to look her in the eye.

"That's no excuse! You didn't do anything to deserve that. How can your 'beloved' ignore you and brush you aside so often?"

Offended by his insinuation, she pushes Sora away.

"Don't act like you know Gray. Don't act like you know Juvia! You come here...so sure of yourself and make light of Juvia's relationship?! You mock Juvia and Gray's LOVE?!"

Sora; taken back by her aggressive stance remains silent for a while, but eventually responds.

"...It's not love if it only goes ONE way."

*SLAP*

Juvia slaps Sora hard. As she leaves, he cups his red cheek. This was the first time Sora made someone so mad as to hit him. It felt worse than the actual slap.

Riku came by just as Juvia left and patted Sora's back.

"Women. Am I right. Don't worry about it. She can't stay mad forever."

Sora removed his hand from his cheek as Riku tried not to laugh at the hand-shaped mark across his face.

"I know. But...I just don't understand why she would willingly put herself in a place like that."

"I can."

Sora looked at Riku in shock as he explained.

"Obsession is a form of darkness. And she seems like she has a LOT of inner darkness that she just...pushes down instead of facing reality."

"So...what can I do about that?"

Lea approached and interjected into the conversation.

"Nothing. You gotta leave the pieces where they fell. Sometimes you have to solve your problems alone. She's not gonna let you fix a problem that she doesn't believe is real."

Sora knew Lea and Riku were right, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

"So...I just stay away from her? I think I can do that."

Riku chuckles.

"Would it be easier to get a restraining order?"

Riku only got a scowl from Sora as a response.

The announcer pumpkin waited for everyone to settle down before getting back into the swing of things.

"Congrats to our Cross Country champion! Coming up next: we have our first One on one match of the Grand Magic Games, _Pumpkin_!"

Everyone came to attention as they waited eagerly to hear the participants.

"I can't wait to see them in action! You all voted for 'em! Sora vs Juvia Lockser!"

Riku and Lea cringed a bit as they looked to see Sora mentally kicking himself.

"...Can't do anything right today."

***Matchups have been decided.***


	3. Still You Understand Nothing

Excitement, energy, and fun. Those were the things Sora was expecting to get in his first fight, but now that his opponent stands before him...those feelings have gone out the window.

"Hey...no hard feelings?"

Sora couldn't see Juvia's eyes as she kept her face and her voice down; refusing to acknowledge him.

The commentators responded instead.

"Ooo. Looks like we have a bit of bit of emotion brought into this fight. Juvia appears to be upset with Sora. I wonder what for."

Yajima squints at them.

"Maybe he said something vulgar to her. What do you think, Mickey?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh...I doubt it. I can't picture Sora being nasty to someone."

Mickey gave a half hearted answer as he was more focused on Sora and his self doubt. He was concerned Sora might be too distracted and get hurt. But his worries were drowned out by the pumpkin's excitement.

"This should be interesting! Let the match...BEGIN!"

Juvia wastes no time and tries to end the fight quickly as she throws a blade of water along the ground that quickly rises to head level. Barely paying attention; Sora almost gets clipped by it, but dodges to the left just in time.

"Whoa! Hey, I just got a haircut. I don't need another one."

His attempt to soften her up with levity does little more than irritate her. She continued to send wave after wave of water blades. Sora was able to dodge them all, but at least it kept him from talking to her.

Aqua and company watch the fight from their section of the arena with a mixture of emotions.

"Why is he holding back?"

Riku answered her question.

"I think you and I both know why. We've experienced Sora when he's holding back before."

Aqua thought back, but can only remember one time she fought him.

"He's LETTING her vent her anger on him?"

Riku nods.

"Sora has a habit of taking it easy on friends when they're dealing with their own darkness while fighting him."

"But why? She doesn't look corrupted like I was or you were."

Terra steps forward smiling.

"Come on, Aqua. You should know that darkness doesn't have take over your body to be a problem."

She gave him a bashful smile as he continued. But his smile slowly turned into a look of disappointment.

"Besides… None of her friends have been helping her with it. Especially not that guy she's obsessed with."

Aqua reigns Terra back in.

"That's not for us to decide. I'm sure he's been helping to the best of his ability, but nobody here is a Keyblade wielder. Nobody here knows what we know about the heart."

"Even so; to treat someone who cares so deeply for you like that is… I would never treat you that way, Aqua."

She simply stared at him wide eyed for a moment as he looked back wondering why she was so silent.

"...What?"

She shook her head and returned her attention to the match.

"Nothing!"

Riku and Lea snickered to each other.

Juvia and Sora's fight rages on as Sora continues to avoid Juvia's more lethal attacks. Wanting to let her punch herself out, so to speak. His plan seemed to be working as she was getting short of breath.

"Will you hold still!"

Sora got a sentence out of her.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

She grumbles as her attacks slow down.

"Juvia does not appreciate you belittling her feelings."

"I know. I'm sorry. You were right. I don't know you. I'm so used to being able to fix everyone's problems, but I've just been poking my nose into where it doesn't belong."

"Problem? Juvia doesn't have a problem."

Sora sighs as he stops dodging and lowers his Keyblade as Juvia stops attacking.

"No...I guess you don't. I can't tell you how to feel."

He starts approaching slowly as she remains on guard.

"I know you love Gray. But ask yourself..."

He stops right in front of her.

"...What has he done to deserve it?"

Her anger boils over as scalding hot water envelopes her fist and she punches Sora in the gut. He groans in pain as he falls to his knees and drops his Keyblade to hold his stomach. The boiling water was so hot that even though she made contact for a split second, it was enough to burn the clothes off around his abdomen.

"I...probably deserved that."

He struggles to get the words out as he wheezes on the floor and he starts tearing up involuntarily.

Juvia's rage subsides as observes the boy riling in pain from her sucker punch and she immediately regrets her actions. But before she could voice her regret; the pumpkin put his hand up.

"There you have it! Juvia wins! Fairy Tail takes the big points, _Pumpkin_!"

The audience doesn't seem to pleased with the outcome as insults were thrown out from the crowd.

"That was a low blow!"

"That's it?! He didn't even throw a single attack! That wasn't even a fight!"

Meanwhile, on Fairy Tail's side; they were notably shocked by Juvia's ruthlessness in this fight. Erza seemed to have a good idea of what spurred on that attitude as she veered at Gray, but chose not to say anything. Natsu, however always spoke his mind and voiced his concern.

"Wow! Since when did Juvia get so vicious? Has she been training? I might have to add her to my list of people I gotta fight."

Gray watches silently as the paramedics rush to pick up Sora with Riku, Lea and Aqua following close behind. Laxus gets Gray's attention.

"Hey Gray. Looks like you've caught the big guy's eye."

Gray looks over to Red Crown's section on the other side of the arena to find Terra staring him down, but scoffs at him.

Erza watches as Juvia just stands there in the middle of the arena as more people hurl insults at her, but she seemed far too preoccupied with her own thoughts to even notice. Erza can't ignore this anymore and confronts Gray.

"You still didn't give her an answer, did you?"

Her words broke him out his brooding.

"Huh?"

She pulled him by the shoulder out of the room to talk privately and spoke clearly.

"You know she's crazy about you. And I told you before during the last games. She deserves a straight answer."

He gets defensive.

"I GAVE her an answer."

"You gave her a NON-answer. 'Maybe' or 'I guess' or 'I'll try' is not an answer. It's yes or no. Don't fill her head with vague hopes. You know she takes things to heart very easily."

Gray remained silent as he had no response that wouldn't sound like an excuse.

"She's been persistent, because you've been unwilling to take a stance other than to just be mean to her in the hopes that she'd lose interest. If you find her annoying than tell her 'No' and leave it at that. But if you think there could be something if you tried...then TRY, damn it! Because now she's not just hurting herself over you...now it's people who actually want to help."

Gray just took Erza's lecture for a while as concluded he couldn't play this game with Juvia anymore and had to come clean.

"...Fine. I'll tell her."

"Good. And you'd better make sure you've got the right answer. There will be no take backs later."

"Is that what happened with you and Jellal? One of you said something you couldn't take back?

An air of deathly silence filled the room before she responded plainly.

"...Yes. But this isn't about me. Now get out there and talk to her."

He turned to leave, but she grabbed his shoulder one more time.

"And Gray?"

He looked back at her to see the veins in her forehead.

"...You need to learn when to shut your mouth."  
**  
*Having Sora and Juvia fight hurts my soul. Juvia may as well have punched ME in the gut. But we must see this through...for science. {Rumbling of Scientific Triumph} ...Oh dear.***


	4. What a Guild is

Sora lies in bed at the infirmary with a sour expression on his face as Riku chastises him for letting his guard down.

"Be honest..."

Riku leans in and whispers so that Aqua doesn't hear.

"...You were distracted by her...water balloons, weren't you?"

Sora looked appalled by the insinuation as his face turned bright red.

"N-NO! I wasn't even looking!"

Lea raised an eyebrow; unconvinced as Aqua just looked confused as she whispered to Lea.

"What are they talking about?"

Lea coughs.

"Uh...Hey! I think there's someone at the door! I'll go see who it is."

Hitting the emergency escape to the conversation; Lea opens the door just before Erza could knock. Erza was impressed with his awareness.

"Amazing. How did you know I was coming?"

Lea gets a smug look on his face.

"I'm just that good. But regardless of my amazing response time... What are you doing here?"

Erza reaches further into the hall to pull an ashamed Juvia out of hiding.

"I believe we owe you and your friend an apology."

The two girls enter the infirmary as Riku eyes them up.

"And you are?"

"Erza Scarlet. I'm a member of Fairy Tail. We're here to apologize for the way we treated you."

Befuddled; Sora tried to wrap his head around her actions.

"Juvia I understand. But why are you here? You didn't do anything to me."

Erza answered him clearly and concisely.

"We are a guild. A family. We share in our shortcoming and mistakes. And if someone is wronged by one of us...they are wronged by ALL of us."

Taken aback by her forwardness and commitment to honor; Sora couldn't respond. But his attention wandered over to Juvia silently standing off to the side as if she wanted to retreat so far inward that she'd implode.

Erza; not reading the room as usual; just walks up behind her and slaps her butt to get her to get on with it as Juvia squeaks from the shock. She gets the picture and steps closer to Sora's bed.

"...How's your stomach?"

Erza cringes at Juvia's awkwardness at dancing around the subject, but Sora just smiles warmly.

"Not bad. That was a good punch though. You're a lot stronger than you look."

Erza couldn't believe how easily he made Juvia's tension just melt away with a smile and few words as she got more comfortable and got a little closer.

"Thank you. Juvia had been training a lot recently."

Sora sat up more in his bed.

"It shows."

Riku tried to keep them on track.

"Well, if you hit him a few inches lower...I don't think he would've forgiven you so easily."

Aqua grabbed him by the ear and led him and Lea out of the room.

"Ow! Hey! That hurts, Aqua!"

As she closed the door behind her; leaving the girls alone to apologize, Juvia wondered if Riku meant that last part.

"You...forgive, Juvia? ...So easily?"

"Of course. It was my fault. I overstepped. I gotta learn when to keep my mouth shut."

Erza felt the lightest form of deju vu from that. But Juvia shook her head.

"No. Juvia crossed the line. Juvia acted dishonorably and is deeply ashamed. Even if you forgive her, Juvia must do something to make it up to you."

Realizing she wasn't gonna let this go until her conscience was satisfied; he quickly thought of something.

"Um...Ice cream. A bunch of it."

Reinvigorated; Juvia pumped her arms in excitement.

"Right away! Juvia will get you so much ice cream you won't be able to stand up for a week."

She rushed out of the infirmary, leaving Erza behind.

After an awkward silence, Sora opened his mouth to speak, but Erza beat him to the punch.

"I'll be honest. I didn't JUST come here to apologize. I came to ask some questions."

He adjusted himself in preparation.

"About what?"

"Your magic. Keyblade. At first I thought it was like my own Re-quip magic. But something is clearly different."

Sora is caught off guard and tries to come up with a way to skirt around the question.

"Oh. Uh...Why do you wanna know?"

She answers bluntly.

"If it is a form of Re-quip magic. I'd like to learn it. Would you be willing to teach me?"

"What?! Me?! Ow!"

His overexertion during his reaction caused him to cramp up from his sore abdomen as Erza quickly grabs his shoulder and gently helps him lie back down.

"Oof. That pink haired old lady is not gonna be happy with me moving around like this."

"You mean Miss Polyussica. Yeah. I would recommend your refrain from angering her as much as possible."

As she lets him down, she gets a good look at the the burn from Juvia's attack and wonders why Sora was so readily willing to forgive her.

"What did you say to Juvia that got her so riled up in the first place?"

He shrugged.

"...You got a few minutes?"

She pulled up a chair to prepare for his story.

Meanwhile; in the arena outside, preparation for the day 2 event was underway as the teams were picking out who would represent them in the game. Aqua was concerned that Sora wouldn't recover in time to be ready, so they'd have to pick someone else to go up for them.

"Based on the name alone. I'm sure Sora would've loved to play this game."

Terra reads the crowds excitement.

"Sounds like it's an old favorite of the audience."

Lea mentally kicks himself as he realizes the missed opportunity.

"Dang it! Those Fairy Tail guys picked Natsu to go up. I missed my chance to show him up."

Riku crossed his arms as he locked eyes with Natsu.

"Don't worry. I'll take home the win for you AND Sora."

Lea patted Riku on the back reassuringly.

"Yeah. But if you're avenging Sora, wouldn't going against Juvia be more fitting?"

Riku's game face was messed up by a cough.

"Uh...yeah. But...She already apologized, so that wouldn't be good form."

"Uh huh. And good thing too. We wouldn't want her to...'distract' you, right?"

His sarcasm was hardly subtle as Aqua scowls at the two of them and Riku puts his hand over Lea's mouth.

"Shh! I never said that!"

Doing his best to diffuse the conversation before it blew out of proportion; Terra drew their attention back to the matter at hand.

"Still though. They aren't gonna tell us the rules for the game until we pick our candidates? Isn't that a little unfair for those who've played before?"

Aqua gave Lea and Riku the 'I'm watching you' gesture before exiting babysitting mode and returning to team leader mode.

"Apparently, the rules are a bit different this time around, so it doesn't really matter. But what kind of crazy game must this be for it to be called...Pandamonium?"


	5. Pandemonium

"The rules for Pandemonium are a little different this time around."

Yajima interrupted his cohort's explanation.

"No doubt due to Erza last time."

The other announcer coughed.

"Ahem. In any case… The basic goal is the same. You destroy the most high level monsters, you win. The difference is that this time the pool of monsters you can draw from are limitless. While I'm sure someone like Erza would appreciate the effort to make things more challenging; this is also making it more dangerous than before."

Yajima came to his own conclusion.

"I can imagine. With infinite monsters, there can be any number of high level ones in any given scenario. Theoretically, you could face a room of 100 weak D-class monsters...or 100 S-class."

The other man nodded.

"Correct. And the monsters themselves have been beefed up quite a bit. Even a D-class is nothing to sneeze at this time around. I can't wait to see how our contestants will take it."

Riku and Natsu stood in front of the castle where all the monsters resided as Riku looked to Natsu and extended a hand.

"Hey. May the best man win."

Natsu paused for a moment, then gave him his famous big toothy grin as he shook his hand.

"Thanks. I will."

Riku chuckled as he realized what kind of guy he was dealing with right away.

After a telling his long story, Erza looked like she had some questions.

"I think I've got it. You fought against Ansem, but not the bad one. Then another guy who has Ansem's name mixed up, but is not the real one either. Both of them are Xehanort in a group 13 other Xehanorts. One of the other Xehanorts traveled through time to ensure his own future, but lost when you traveled through time...and dreams to save your friends. And there are 4 other versions of you all with different names and appearances, but they are all their own people now?"

Sora was impressed.

"I'm surprised you got all that."

"Well, I've dealt with Edolas and the Eclipse before, so time travel and alternate versions of people are not foreign concepts to me. You think that's bad. My own mother was….um...nevermind. I'll save my story for later; we'll be here all day at this rate."

"But you do get my point though, right? I'm far from the best person to teach you."

She smiles.

"Based on your story; you're the BEST person to teach me. Titles and hearsay about Masters and whatnot...those mean nothing to me. In my mind, you ARE a Master. And I always wish to learn from the best."

Sora blushes a bit from the compliment as she continues.

"Are you worried I'll use it against you in the games? If so, you can teach me after the games have concluded."

Sora shook his head.

"Nah. It's fine. I'll teach you what I know."

Polyussica enters the room and screams at Erza.

"Get out, Erza! Stop bothering my patient!"

Erza gets up and heads out the door, but not before whispering to Sora.

"We'll talk about it later."

Sora tried to defend Erza's presence.

"It's fine, Miss. She's not bothering me."

Polyussica gave him a death stare which chilled him to the bone.

"I mean...maybe she is? What do I know? I'm not a doctor."

Erza gave a look that basically said 'I warned you' as she left the room and Polyussica got to work on Sora's condition.

"You'd better not make a fuss or this will take longer and you'll miss your chance to watch your friend in the game."

"Yes ma'am."

Outside in the stadium; Pandemonium had already begun with all competitors entering the castle to fight at the same time, leaving no way for the to determine the progress of the others. Erza arrived just in time to catch Natsu blowing large numbers of D-class monsters away with his Fire Dragon Roar.

"How's he doing so far?"

Gray responded.

"Not bad. He's up to 100 kills already, but he hasn't seen anything stronger than a C-class. I'm starting to think this game hates him."

They notice how Natsu seems to be begging for stronger opponents as he lets out a bellowing war cry. She smirks.

"Well, at least we know he's...all fired up. What about Red Crown's Riku?"

Laxus offered his insight.

"He's a bit more methodical. Taking it slow since there is no time limit. Looks like he's being rewarded for pacing himself with higher leveled monsters more often. Haven't seen a single A-class or S-class yet though."

Gray scoffed.

"Yeah, but Natsu's still got the lead just from steamrolling them all. By the way, Erza. Did you see Juvia?"

"Yes. She went to get a lifetime supply of ice cream for Sora as an apology."

"What?! That's what she needed my ice make magic for?!"

"Wait...you helped her make her apology gift to Sora? That's sweet."

He turned away to hide his embarrassment.

"I didn't know she was making ice cream with it! Especially not for him!"

Erza smirked.

"But you still helped her anyways?"

"Of course I did. If she needs help, I'll help her. That's what being friends means."

Erza got in front of him to look him in the eye.

"Just friends?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell HER that?"

No answer. She groaned as she grasped the bridge of her nose.

"Ugh. Gray. You need to stop beating around the bush. The longer you put this off, the harder it's going to be."

"I'll tell her when I'm ready."

Laxus throws his hand into the pot.

"When will that be? When she's walking down the aisle to you with heart in her hand ready to say 'I do'?"

They both look shocked that Laxus even had an opinion on the matter, let alone one so strong. He continued to lay down the law.

"Let me make this easier for you. You tell her...today. Or I'm gonna pump you with so many bolts of lightning, you'll be able to power all of Magnolia for a year."

Gray cringed.

"Fine! I'll tell her! After the game. Let's get it over with."

Deeper inside the stadium, Juvia is using the ice she got from Gray to make ice cream as she hums a tune to herself. It wasn't long before she was greeted by another blue haired woman.

"Who's all this for?"

Juvia looked up to Aqua examining the desserts she was making.

"Juvia was making all this for Sora."

Aqua rolled her eyes.

"We're going to need to have an intervention with him about his addiction to frozen sweets. You know you're making snow cones and not ice cream, right?"

Juvia's sudden realization caused her to panic.

"Oh no! Should I start over?"

Aqua quickly put her hands on Juvia's shoulders to calm her down.

"It's okay. Like I said; he'll like pretty much anything as long as it's frozen and sweet."

Juvia squinted her eyes at her a bit.

"You know a lot about him. Are you...his girlfriend?"

Aqua almost fell over on top of Juvia.

"W-what?! Me...and him?! No way! I could never… I knew him when he was like 6!"

Juvia's eyes widened.

"Oh! So, the 'childhood friends' trope?"

Aqua couldn't help but to burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! I mean...technically yes. But he doesn't remember. Besides...I think he has eyes for someone else."

Aqua raises her eyebrow at Juvia who didn't seem to get it.

"He has a girlfriend though? Juvia figured as much."

Aqua rolled her eyes again.

"You know…for someone who obsesses over love...you're pretty oblivious yourself."

Juvia tilts her head in confusion as Aqua shrugs it off.

"Anyways, let me help you with that. I happen to be experienced at making ice cream."

"Thank you, Aqua."

They both start making the ice cream as Juvia returns to humming and Aqua notices she's humming the familiar tune of 'It's a Small World After All' and Aqua started to get traumatic flashbacks of Disney Town, but quickly shook them off.

Sora eventually recovered in time to catch the game before it ended as he rushed up the stairs to the balcony.

"What'd I miss?!"

Lea and Terra look bored as Aqua tries to answer him.

"Um...well..."

Lea spoke up.

"It's embarrassing, honestly."

Riku finally taps out after fighting as many monsters as he could as the announcers take over.

"And that's the game folks! Everyone has finished their quota! Let's tally up the numbers now! Taking into account higher monsters yielding more points we reach our final results! The winner is...WOW! Not even close! With an absolutely dominant performance of 397,614 points...Natsu of Fairy Tail is the winner! Second place goes to Riku of Red Crown with a respectable 13,020 points."

Riku breathes heavily as he plops down on the ground in disbelief.

"He got HOW MANY?! That guy's insane!"

Natsu came over to Riku and offered him a hand up.

"What did you expect? Monsters and destruction is my specialty."

Riku scoffed and took his hand as Natsu pulled him up.

"Yeah. Well, good game anyways."

"Hey. You took out way more high leveled monsters than me. I got stuck with canon fodder the whole time."

Erza and Gray didn't want to correct him on the fact that he actually fought sever S-class and A-class monsters, but just didn't realize or notice the difference in power. Sora runs down to congratulate Riku.

"Way to go, Riku!"

"Uh...Sora? I didn't win."

"No biggie. I'm sure you still learned a lot. We're not here to win. We're here to have fun."

Lea pipes up.

"Speak for yourself."

Aqua flicks Lea's ear.

"Ow. What is with you and my ears?"

Terra splits them up before they start a fight.

"Lea has a point. Some of us ARE here to win. Like me, for example. I'm up next for the 1v1s and I won't be holding back. Oh, and I guess I'll avenge Sora for you, Riku."

Riku snapped at him.

"Hey! I did pretty good."

Lea keeps his ears covered as he responds.

"You didn't even get a FIFTH as many points as Natsu."

Aqua pinched his nose.

"AH! For Pete's sake, woman!"

The announcers get back on the mic.

"And there you have it! Pandemonium is complete. Next up; we have a one on one match."

Terra gets serious as everyone else pays attention.

"The matchup for today is...Terra vs Gray!"


End file.
